Hybrid Workplace

Hybrid Workspaces Aren't One Size Fits All

Allison GregoryNCIDQ, Prosci, RID

Allison Gregory, NCIDQ, Prosci, RID, is a Senior Interior Designer in LS3P’s Raleigh office. She holds a Bachelor of Interior Design from Louisiana State University and brings over 20 years of experience working with regional architectural firms as a workplace strategist. She leads interior design, visioning, survey data analysis, and programming for large-scale Class A office upfits, relocations, and new construction projects. In addition to her design expertise, Allison works with several national dealers in the Southeast, providing space planning, material specifications, pricing, and construction documentation.

In my first real career job, at an architecture firm in 1999 working for developers and brokers, my main space planning objectives were to take a user’s “program” and fit it in as little space as possible, and to make sure any remaining space on the floor plate was still leasable. Minimizing circulation and meeting code without increasing the corridor and screwing up the rentable factor (as defined by the Building Owners and Managers Association, or BOMA) of the floor was key. A program consisted of head count, number of cubes (8’ x 8’), number of offices (12’ x 12 or 15’), reception, conference room, break room, copy/fax area, and an IT closet. Offices go on the perimeter, CEO in the corner. If there is another corner in the suite, that is where the conference room goes. Workstations go in the center with no access to light unless someone left their office door open. I could almost take the “order” from a diner guest check pad, “side of seating to go with that break area today?”

Building amenity space or community space consisted of a very hidden, and mostly useless, “gym” that had a mirror, a few free weights on a mat, an exercise bike, and cypher lock on the door of course. If the building was forward thinking, there was a single shower restroom combo found near the “workout facility.” Fast forward to today, when class A office spaces must have a combination of community spaces consisting of a coffee bar, rentable social space, collaboration space accessible to all, outdoor space, rooftop or balcony space, and any other trend confirmed by current commercial real estate (CRE) metrics. Win/win for all involved, especially those that used to sit in 8×8 cubicles. Brokers and developers are now looking to us as designers to know what the next big draw is for tenants, rather than cramming a program into the smallest footprint possible.

There isn't a magic formula, there are several. Creating an efficient and effective hybrid workspace happens by measuring many aspects.

“Efficient” space is also an evolving definition. Open plan no longer means a field of workstations lined up in tidy rows like icetrays. Calculations for the usable and leasable square footage are vastly different. The boundaries around space types are skewed and therefore so is circulation. The “space in between spaces” is fair game for more creative uses. Planning for workspace today must be a deeper dive into the user experience and how hybrid work should be implemented.

There isn’t a magic formula, there are several. Creating an efficient and effective hybrid workspace happens by measuring many aspects. The following metrics are an example and, balanced with user work styles, mobility profiles, type of work, and desired behaviors, makes for a vibrant hybrid work environment. For instance, creating workable space for programmers or statisticians would look entirely different from a marketing start -up due to functional work roles alone. The following metrics help determine the level of collaboration, types of spaces, their highest use, and what behaviors and culture to foster, in addition to figuring out how much space is needed.

Space Sharing Metrics

Space sharing metrics generally inform how willing users are to giving up an assigned space for added space types to use. One work seat per user, meaning the quantity of offices plus workstations equals the expected headcount, should not be assumed as the standard. Neighborhood design is an effective way to ease into higher sharing metrics, where a functional group or team is assigned an area to share rather than assigning one work seat per person.

Mobility Profiles

Mobility profiles are useful metrics for deciding how much of what space type will meet the users’ needs. Mobility profiles refer either to the weekly hybrid schedule of an individual or the expected time in office according to a functional work role. For instance, the sales force may use the office for one peak occupancy day of the work week and potentially not need assigned individual work seats. They may even prefer a more collaborative space when in the office than an individual work seat. Planning to accommodate the average occupancy and peak occupancy may look different from a “day in the life of the workplace” perspective and incorporate more space types with dual uses.

Peak & Average Occupancies

Peak and average occupancies can be measured both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative data is gathered by security badges, occupancy sensors, wi-fi networks, and other daily information gathering systems. Using this data is necessary but only half the equation. Informational bias is a danger in making use assumptions with only the quantitative data. Conducting focus groups and interviews, scrutinizing calendar data for actual attendance numbers (especially for standing meetings), and visual observations confirm the hard data but also uncover the behavioral aspect of the “blip” in the hard data.

Positive hybrid environments are possible with a menu of space types that align more closely with the occupants’ culture, functional roles, and time spent in the office while reaching that “efficiency” of use that has always been precious. The most valuable benefit of the hybrid office is that vibrant spaces attract and retain talent, creating a buzz in the workplace that others want to experience.